Mifflin County girls fight to the end, falls to Bethel Park

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: March 8, 2022

Photo by Bob Hockenbrock
By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – They went down firing!

Hosting its first PIAA State Playoff game in the school’s history, the MIfflin County girls basketball team fell to a very tough Bethel Park team, 62-52 in front of a packed house of Husky fans.

Despite the loss, the Lady Huskies left everything they had on the court and gave their fans everything they had, earning the moral victory.

When the buzzer sounded, the Dawg Pound (the MC student section) stood up and chanted Thank You Huskies!! Thank You Huskies!! Giving the team the respect that they earned on the night and through the season.

Marissa Gingrich led the offensive attack, posting 26 points. She also finished with nine boards.

Mya Aumiller added nine while Bri Bodtorf had eight points and nine rebounds.

Bethel Park got a strong 1-2 punch by teammates Emma Dziezgowski and Mary Boff with 19-point and 16-point efforts, respectively.

Bethel Park held the advantage over Mifflin County in the rebounding department by a slim 26-21 margin.

The Blackhawks were hitting from beyond the arc, posting six.

Mifflin County was able to hit seven triples of their own.

The Blackhawks and Huskies started out in back-in-forth fashion in the first.

Dziezgowski led off the scoring with an offensive board.

Gingrich tied it with an early lay in.

Boff hit her team’s first triple minutes later, giving Bethel Park the lead at 5-2.

Back came the Huskies and they got the ball back to Gingrich and she was fouled. She hit both free throws, cutting it to one with 5:24 left in the first.

The Blackhawks Riley Miller put her team back up by three as she posted a runner in the lane.

Bodtorf cut the Bethel Park lead back to one with a strong shot in the lane as well.

Leading 7-6, the Blackhawks hit on two consecutive buckets to increase the lead to 11-6 with 2:11 still left in the opening period.

Gingrich ended the run, hitting her sixth point of the contest, making it a 3-point game.

But Bethel Park would up it’s lead to 14-8 with 1:09 showing.

Aumiller and Gingrich helped the Huskies cut the lead to 14-13 as the first quarter came to an end.

Both defenses took control on the second quarter, allowing a combined 11 points in the period.

Mifflin County held the Blackhawks to eight.

Unfortunately for the Lady Huskies, Bethel Park clamped down a little harder allowing just three.

When the two teams went into the intermission, Bethel Park held a 22-16 lead.

Offensively, the Blackhawks caught fire in the third, outscoring MIfflin County 23-12 to add to its lead to 45-28 as the two teams went into the final stanza.

In the fourth, the Lady Huskies battled throughout, diving for loose balls, forcing turnovers, jumping out of bounds to save the ball and just full out hustled keeping them within striking distance as the game went into the final minutes.

However, Bethel Park was able to overcome their mistakes with clutch foul shooting down the stretch to hold onto the win.

As they walked off the court, the Lady Huskies left their mark on the basketball scene this season.

With 18 wins, a District 6 title and a State play in win the team has set new standards for which other Huskies teams will have to go by.

The most important thing was the team also brought back the winning tradition and pedigree that is what MIfflin County girls basketball programs prided themselves in.

Congratulations to the all the Huskies to a great season!!